Ran a "racino" (casino inside a racetrack) for a few years and one of the perks was an employees only area not only on the infield (semi-secret underground tunnel) and then again near the final pole. Didn't matter if it was a simple early season race or the Derby, it was pretty cool to hear those horses thunder by. I'd take new employees who have never even seen a race and take them down there right at the track's edge...their reaction was most always =
It's the entire atmosphere as well...massive roast beef sandwiches and Rueben's the size of your head...salted peanuts....cold beer...mudddy faced jockeys walking back to the dressing rooms...non-winning tickets tossed in the air...discarded racing sheets all over the ground (the clean-up crews used suped up leaf blowers) and placing a few bucks on the longshots on a rainy/muddy day.
